1. Dusty Journal on Napoleonic Wars found
a) An old journal containing the battle plans from the Napoleonic wars was recently found in a book shop in Sydney, Australia.
b) It’s a diary that belongs to British Lieutenant-Colonel John Squire, who served with the Duke of Wellington. This leather journal is dated 1811 which appears to detail a period from May to June that year of a war that pitted the French against an array of European powers, focusing on The Siege of Badajoz in Spain.
2. FitKids acquired Thinklabs
a) A science & technology education provider ThinkLabs has been recently acquired by Education start-up company FitKids for an undisclosed amount.
b) Bengaluru based FitKids, is a provider of sports, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for children from Kindergarten to grade 12. This acquisition will help FitKids to add about new 100 schools to its portfolio of 160 schools across India.
c) FitKids provides STEM education under the brand DiscoverEd. They will now be able to offer a programme called Eureka which was originally developed by ThinkLabs. Eureka is programme made to provide training to the teachers to deliver the curriculum.
3. Capital gains on FDI from Mauritius will be taxed
a) Union Government has decided to tax the Capital gains on FDI from Mauritius 2017 onwards. Since 2000, Mauritius has provided India with 1/3rd of its total FDI.
b) India & Mauritius have recently signed a protocol at Port Louis in Mauritius, which amends the convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains.
c) As per this agreement, Mauritius will now be able to cease to the preferred route for FDI and portfolio investments into India.
d) This protocol will help both the countries to prevent India Mauritius 1983 Double Taxation Avoidance treaty abuse and round-tripping of funds, curb revenue loss, prevent double non-taxation, streamline the flow of investment and stimulate the flow of exchange of information between India and Mauritius.
e) In a two-year transition phase, from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2019, the capital gains will be taxed at a concessional tax rate of 50 per cent of the domestic rate. Capital gains on investments made before April 1, 2017, will not be taxed in India.
4. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte become president of Philippines
a) Rodrigo ‘Digong’ Duterte, mayor of Davao has emerged victorious in the presidential election of the Philippines held on 9th May 2016.
b) He received a landslide victory with 15.36 million votes in his favour. The 2nd position was acquired by Mar Roxas with 9.27 million votes in his favour. Grace Poe received the third position with around 8.6 million votes.
c) Around 39% voting population of Philippines favoured Duarte over other candidates.
d) Duterte had become vice mayor of Davao in 1986 & Mayor of Davao in 1988. He is always compared to the US presidential candidate Donald Trump and called as Dirty Harry.
5. Shashank Manohar resigned as President of BCCI
a) Shashank Manohar has resigned from the post of president of board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI).
b) He also resigned from the posts of BCCI representative in the international Cricket council (ICC) & Asian Cricket council (ACC).
c) During this term, he was serving BCCI for the 2nd time. Previously, he was the president of BCCI from 25th September 2008 to 19th September, 2011.
d) He is still the president of the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA).
6.Certificate registration of four NBFCs was cancelled by RBI
a) Certificate of registration of four Non-Banking financial Companies was recently cancelled by Reserve Bank of India. It was done by exercising the power granted to RBI under Section 45-IA (6) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
b) Registration of M/s Neelanjali Engineering Private Limited, M/s Novoflex Tradecom Private Limited, M/s Guide Investments and Trading Co. Pvt. Ltd, M/s Enol Ventures Private Limited was cancelled by RBI.
c) Total 7 Maharashtra NBFCs also surrendered their certification to RBI. These firms are, M/s V.H Doshi & Sons Investment Pvt. Ltd., M/s Vinodchandra Doshi Investment Co Private Limited, M/s Samarth Doshi Investment Co. Private Limited, M/s Echjay Overseas Trades Private Limited, M/s Hari Mahavin Investment Private Limited, M/s Baroda Industries Private Limited, M/s Eureka Finvest Private Ltd.
7. Husain Haqqani releases book on India Pakistan relations
a) Former Pakistani Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani released a book on India-Pakistan relations called ‘India Vs Pakistan: Why can’t we just be friends?’.
b) The book is considered controversial as it exposed Pakistan’s role in the 26/11 terror attacks in India.
c) The ex-ISI chief General Pasha’s visit to Washington 24th & 25th December, 2008 was accounted in this where he admitted Pakistan’s involvement in these terror attacks candidly.
d) Husain Haqqani has written two books on Pakistan. These books are Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military, and Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding.
8. National Technology Day is celebrated in the Country
a) Indians celebrate the National Technology Day every year on 11th May to commemorate India’s technological advancements & expertise.
b) This day was instituted in the year 1999 when on this day India achieved a great mark in its advancement of technology by testing first indigenous aircraft ‘Hansa-3’.
c) After Hansa-3, India has successfully test fired its Trishul missile and executed executed three successful nuclear tests, carried out at Pokhran, in Rajasthan. India tested it’s 5 nuclear bombs in Pokhran, Rajasthan on 11th May, 1998.
d) This year’s theme of National Technology Day is ‘Technology enablers of Startup India’.
9. Exercise Chakravyuh II concluded in Rajasthan.
a) As a follow up to ‘Exercise Shatrujeet’, a long training exercise of Indian Army called Chakravyuh II was concluded in Suratgarh in Rajasthan.
b) This exercise involves rapid mobilisation and execution of plans in sync with the Air Force in the desert terrain.
c) This exercise is aimed at validation of battle readiness and operational effectiveness of the RAPID division along with its affiliated components.
10. RBI to issue rs. 1000 banknotes with inset letter ‘R’
a) As per the official announcement from RBI, new 1000 Rs. banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi series – 2005 with an inset letter ‘R’ in both the number panels will be released.
b) These banknotes will have the year of 2016 printed on the reverse. The numerals in both the numbering panels will be in ascending size from left to right.
c) For the visually impaired people, these 1000 Rs. banknotes will have bleed lines on them in the four sets of 1-2-2-1 lines on the obverse in both, the upper left and right hand edge of the banknotes.
d) The Diamond shaped identification mark near the left edge of the banknote will be enlarged.
11. Knowlarity acquires customer engagement platform Smartwards
a) Asia’s leading cloud telephony company, Knowlarity Communications, officially announced the acquisition of Delhi-based Smartwards.
b) Smartwards is a customer engagement platform that simplifies loyalty for local businesses and their customers
c) As a part of the agreement, the two founders of Smartwards – Shantanu Mathur and Dhanraj Singh Bisht – will lead the India operations for Knowlarity.
d) The deal will enable Knowlarity to integrate the Smartwards product and technology into its own product ecosystem to provide enterprise software solutions to small and medium businesses, Knowlarity said in a statement.
12. BAFTA 2016 announced
a) British Academy of Film & Television has presented this year’s BAFTA awards. The winners of these awards are as follows.
Special Award – Lenny Henry
Leading Actor – Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall)
Leading Actress – Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster)
Entertainment Performance – Leigh Francis (Celebrity Juice)
Scripted Comedy – Peter Kay’s Car Share (Peter Kay, Gill Isles, Sian Gibson, Paul Coleman)
Soap & Continuing Drama – EastEnders
Specialist Factual – Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners
Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme – Have I Got News for You
Supporting Actress – Chanel Cresswell(This is England ’90)
Supporting Actor – Tom Courtenay(Unforgotten)
Single Drama – Don’t Take My Baby
Male Performance in a Comedy Programme – Peter Kay (Peter Kay’s Car Share)
Female Performance in a Comedy Programme – Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum)
Factual Series – The Murder Detectives
Mini-Series – This Is England ’90
13. Mrugank Paranjape took charge as MD and CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange
a) Recently Deutsche Bank executive Mrugank Paranjape on Monday took over as managing director and chief Executive officer of the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX).
b) He has been appointed for a term of three years.
c)Previously the matters of exchange were handled by joint managing director P.K. Singhal (redesignated on 1st of April as president and whole time director of exchange)
14. Sanjay Kaul is the new Country Head for Apple India
a) Sanjay Kaul, who served the tech giant Apple as a Sales Director in India is recently promoted to being the Country Head for Apple India.
b) Prior to joining Apple, he worked for Canadian handset manufacturer BlackBerry where he lead the firm’s channel sales division.
c) Kaul has replaced Maneesh Dhir who resigned in January this year to pursue other opportunities.
15. 100% FDI through Automatic Route permitted in Asset Reconstruction Companies
a) Union government has shown a green signal to the 100% FDI in the asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) under the authentic route.
b) Previously, the FDI allowed in this area was only 49%. The total shareholding of individual foreign institutional investors/ foreign portfolio investors must be below 10 per cent of the total paid-up capital.
c) FII/FPIs can invest up to 100% of each tranche in security receipts issued by ARCs, subject to RBI directions/guidelines.The Investment limit in the sponsor in the shareholding of an ARC will be governed by the provision of the Sarfaesi law.
16. Madhya Pradesh Tourism Awarded with Best Indian Destination with Wildlife award
a) This year’s best Indian destination with wildlife award by Lonely Planet group was won by Madhya Pradesh tourism.
b) This award was presented to Madhya Pradesh Tourism by actress Amy Jackson at a function held in Mumbai.
c) As per the statistics presented by Forest Survey of India of the State of forest report 2003, Madhya Pradesh has the 24.79% of the total land area of the state.
d) Madhya Pradesh has around 25 wildlife sanctuaries and 9 national parks. The state has provided special efforts for the tiger Indian bustard & Son Chiriya conservation.
e) Due to the conservative programmes carried out by the state tourism, Kanha & Pench National Parks in MP are considered as the most beautiful national parks in the Asia.
17. Harish Rawat won the Uttarakhand floor test
a) The Harish Rawat led government proved its majority in the Uttarakhand floor test in the state assembly with 33 votes in their favour.
b) The floor test was held as per the order of Supreme Court. In this test, Harish Rawat received 33 votes against 28 votes out of 61 qualified members for voting in the assembly.
c) After 9 congress legislators rebelled against the Harish Rawat’s government in Uttarakhand, the state was facing a political crisis. On the recommendations of Union cabinet, President pranab Mukherjee had imposed President’s rule in the state on 27th March, 2016.
d) On 21st April, Uttarakhand High court quashed the president’s rule and ordered to conduct a ‘Composite floor test’ on 5th May 2016.